Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1887-03-15
FEARFUL ACCIDENT,
A Boston 4 Providence Train
Falls Through a Bridge
Near Boston.
Light Cars Crushed Together
in One Heap.
over Thirty Persons Killed and
Nearly One Hundred Wounded.
The Bodies Of the Dead Victims
Horribly Mutilated.
BOSTON. March Ii

BOSTON, March IA.
Early this morning heavily loaded pas
seDger train on the Boston & Providence
railroad met with terrible accident between
Roslindale and Forest Hills. Four cars are
said to have gone through bridge and manv
persons were killed. a wreckng train left
Boston for the scene at s 80 o'clock.
The accidt mt occurred i've miles from Bos.
ton, at what is known as Bussey Park bridge
The O'clock train from Dedham consisting
OF seven passenger cars and a baggage car
under charge of Conductor Tilden, broke
through the bridge. The engine and three
cars went over but five others fell through
to the road beneath, distance of 80 feet
The last car, which was the smoker, turned
completely over and struck on ton OF the
Others, ali being crushed almost out of shape.
The cause of the accident is said to have
been the breaking the bridge, but whether
caused by the breaking of rail cannot be
| learned
The engineer, when his engine broke from
the train kept right ON to Forest Hills aud
gave the alarm, instead of stopping to see
what was done, and on that account it was
possible TO get assistance at once. The off
GERS OF the road are present and doing all
they can. Muny doctors are there and doing
all IN their power.
An inspection of the wreck reveals the
fact that the eight cars composing the train
were jumbled into a complete wreck, not
one OF the coaches escaping almost perfect
demolition. From the location of the
wrecked cars it would seem that the first
three cars passed over the bridge safely.
The structure evidently gave way when the
fourth car was passing over 1t. The five
rear cars went through TO the roadway, land
ing mass of splinters in the street. The
al trui II, ,f tho fva fol pulla1 no 10
coaches in advance from the rails. They
remained on the top of the embankment but
were pulled off their trucks and the floors
OF each were forced nearly to the roofs,
while the seats were jumbled together in
great confusion. The end of the second
coach was mass of splinters, caused by the
car ahead grinding against 1t when the others
went down the embankment The third car
was flattened to the ground as if it had fallen
on its trucks from great height. The roof
of the fourth car remained the embank-
ment, having evidently been showed clear
from its tastenings when the coach went
through The next four cars went down in a
heap. The smoker, which was on the rear
Of the train, fell in the midst of the coaches,
and was actually ground into small splinters
The inmates of the smoker are either killed
or Injured, not one escaping without inJuries
OF some kind. Two of the coaches went
clear across she roadway, landing against
the stone wall that bounded Il long field al
the foot of hill. As the cars lie in thelr
present location they present picture OF
such absolute demolition that 1t seems re
markable that any person In them escaped q
alive. The cushions from the seats are seat
tered over the roadway and into the adjacent
pasture, while the car-wheels and trucks are
distributed in all directions. In the mass of
sphners in the roadway are pools of blood
and occasionally portion of a body can be
seen. These as soon as found are hurried to
the morgue. Still there are pieces of flesh
to be seen sometimes fastened between the
tlmbers.
Conductor Tilden was in the third car, one
end of which remained on top of the embank-
utent, and on the ground directly underneath
where he was standing when killed is a pool
of blood, while the debris of that coach is
spattered with blood. Under this coach was
picked up the breast and lungs of a hum
being, possibly portion of the conductor
BODY
The horrors of fire were not added to the
terrible disaster, which was due to the
Dromptness with which relief was sent.
chemical engine from Rosladale was at the
scene within twenty minutes after the wreck
occurred, brought by an alarm OF hre gwen
Dy u IettST-tdTtlST WHo hdu WdAIhTN shS
scene from his route near by, and vino had
observed the flames issusng from the debris.
rhe chemical apparatus extinguished the
flames and the firemen then did excellent
work in re.clng the inJured
The scenes Just after the disaster occurred
were narrowing in the extreme. The groans
aud ihrieks of the injured were heard by
residents in the neighboriug houses. The
only person known to have been an eye wit
ness of the disaster who was not on the train
was J. II. Lennon, a fish dealer. He was
harnessing his horse when the train came
along and he turned to see it pass. He was
horror-stricken when he saw the train take
its awful plunge through the bridge.
For a moment" Lennon saws, there was
perfect quiet, and then the cries Of the in
jured we're heard issuing through the deb
ris."
Selling an axe from his barn, Lennon
started for the wreck which he reached in a
moment. He climbed into the window of
the coach that had landed against the stone
wall and set to work to release those persons
who had been pinioned down by broken tim
bers. Lennon with his axe released the men
who were badly hurt and handed them out oil
the window 10 the men who had come to the
rescue. He also hauled out the bodies of two
dead women, one OF whom was nearly decap
itated and had both arms severed from her
BODY.
1t has been impossible up to this evening
to obtain a correct and complete list oil Inc
killed and wounded in the terrible wreck or
the Providence railroad at Rosindale. owing
to the fact that Immediately after the catas
trophe occurred, its victims were hastily re-
moved from the scene and in such widely d.
verse directions that it is extremely difficult
to trace them all correctly. Some OF the IN
iured were at once conveyed to their homes
others were taken to hospitals, while Others
still found temporary shelter in residences ID
the immediate neighborhood. The major